Environmental Racism

of this country – especially in regards to affairs that are hazardous to both the health and environment of the people when the leadership of the country changes. There is this fear of how the country will function based on the President’s party lineage and that is a testament to how problematic and inconsistent the ideals of this country are when it comes to political topics, including environmental policy and climate change. Environmental racism and injustice, as a subset to the problems environmental policy brings, suddenly becomes acceptable and a sacrifice the leaders of this country have to accept in society because action will not be taken to reverse such issues or problems. As Senator Boxer questions how leaders, who are given the responsibility
to protect, advocate, and encourage positive changes for the overall well-being of the citizens, health, happiness, and prosperity, leading by example just how said leaders abuse that power, is a genuine concern about how decisions are made.
Discussions with White House Officials
In a series of interviews and discussions, White House officials begin addressing the questions and concerns of those within the Executive Office of the President, encouraging those who were in the area to engage with the experts from the Environmental Protection Agency and from within the White House to discuss the President’s agenda. Additionally, in a career and leadership development program led by the Office of Presidential Personnel, a guest speaker was invited to speak to the political appointees of the White House.

White House, Official
“When thinking about setting forth ground-breaking changes in the green world, one must really reflect and ponder the reasons for what they are advocating for – what change is your support or lack of support for this policy bring to the world? How many lives are you saving, and how many lives are you sacrificing? With so many criticisms about the President’s agenda, and his priorities about advancing efforts towards environmental policies, we really had to be strategic in our presentation, in our communications with private and public sectors, and in our announcement to the American public about the President’s approach towards such a crucial issue. When there is criticism for this work being done in the last couple of years – no, no this was all in the works within the first few days of the Administration. Just because public announcements are being made now, it does not meet the initial conversations were made very close in time to the announcements. People are forgetting that despite the power this place does hold, policy takes time and some of the initiatives that are just coming out have been in the making for years.”
Environmental Protection Agency, Official
“Environmental policies are not new concerns to the President, nor are they a new set of concerns to the policy advisors, researchers, and scientists we have been working with. As a White House Staffer said to me during a meeting, the Clean Power Plan shows the President and his Administration’s dedication towards combating climate change. It is really just as simple as that. The President had a mission – and that was to leave America better than we had arrived in office. That comes with focusing on every possible problem you can think of. And during his Administration, President Obama invested in environmental reform, including international agreements regarding climate change, signing the Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Justice to address the poor environmental sphere of minorities and low-income families, the Clean Air Act, and a law in which contained $90 billion in subsidies for green energy. This President fought for green. He really did – and in a way that involved the societal and economic problems that are correlated with environmental policy, such as environmental racism and justice.”
Environmental Racism and Justice
In a peer-reviewed article titled Dismantling Environmental Racism in the USA, Robert Bullard draws on evidence that supports the environmental and health risks “people of colour and low-income persons” are born into (1999).
In 2013, in his official capacity in Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment stated his disappointment in the implementation of Title IV of the Civil Rights Act, a law that combats discrimination on the basis of race by prohibiting said discrimination by federal money (Desmond-Harris 2013). These concerns date back to decades of continuous concern in the lack of environmental justice, as seen in environmental racism. As Bullard stated in 1999, “environmental racism is just one form of environmental injustice and is reinforced by government, legal, economic, political and military institutions” (1999). Bullard claims EPA “has not always recognized that many government and industry practices have adverse impacts on poor people and people of color” (1999). In 2013, Jenee Desmond-Harris entertained the same thoughts. These attacks to Presidents and the United States, as well as the United States Environmental Policy challenge the claims in support of the work Presidents such as First-President Bush, President Clinton, and President Obama have
achieved.
In an article released by the National Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group that advocates on behalf of the environment in an international scale, Albert Huang references the 20th anniversary of Executive Order 12898, a federal action signed by President Clinton on Environmental Justice agreeing that “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations” would be set in place (2014). This Executive Order, working with the Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) within EPA, identifies the impact the current state of environmental effects in human health has on minority and low-income peoples (Environmental Protection Agency, 1994). Combined with environmental racism, low-income families and minorities are often times mostly affected by poor environmental policy because of their proximity to unhealthy neighborhoods filled with pollution. Thus, environmental justice is tied to environmental racism, which is a direct outcome of the lack of human health when environmental policies are being considered.
Conclusion:

The past few decades are a testimony to the inconsistency and lack of focus the world has taken on environmental policy, climate change, and global warming.
Additionally, concern is also focused and geared towards the economic and social struggles in the lack of environmental policy, including environmental racism and justice. While President Nixon created the Environment Protection Agency, others after him, such as President George H.W. Bush’s Administration revisited these victories by leading America to losses for it’s environmentalists. With so many failed attempts in gathering the loyal attention from the public in decades, and engaging them in how important and absolutely necessary it is in creating and maintaining an environment in which fossil fuels, carbon emissions, rises in sea levels, and hazards to aquatic life, are constantly fought against, there needs to be more strength in how the scientific information is shared. Additionally, the lack of consistency and cooperation from differing parties regarding the importance of climate change and global warming, especially in Congress, continuously hurts the work the United States can accomplish in combating climate change. Today, President Obama is criticized for his work towards environmental policy. However, the Obama Administration has been a leading force in the fight for a healthier and more green future, and that has been evident in the policies he has been pushing through with the Environmental Protection
Agency.